Hey sellas,
In professions where you face a lot of rejection, like writing and sales, it can be hard to maintain conviction.
You hear no so often, or crickets, that you begin to doubt your value. You start questioning things you shouldn’t. You lose your sense of conviction.
And without conviction, you’re dead in the water.
I still struggle with this sometimes, but the best solution I’ve found so far is to regularly review the best feedback I’ve ever received.
I have a folder where I keep positive responses to my Sunday morning newsletter about living a better life and making a better world, and every time I find myself struggling with doubt, I read through them and remind myself people really do enjoy my writing. It reaffirms my conviction and helps me keep going.
At work, I get a similar feeling every time I interview a customer for a success story. It’s always such a great reminder that people really do get tremendous value out of the software we sell.
If you’re struggling with maintaining conviction, remember that your sample is biased. You’re talking to all the people who may not want or need or see the value you provide.
It always helps to balance that out by reading the good reviews and speaking directly with the folks who love what you sell most.
Now here’s another edition of the 411.
This week’s edition is brought to you by Vidyard. Record and send sales videos to connect with prospects, convert opportunities and close deals—for free.
Four Links
1. A Prospecting Manifesto
“We often over-execute on prospecting activity and under-invest in prospecting strategy,” says Mark Birch.
I think he’s right.
“Many make the mistake of thinking prospecting is all about banging away at the phones. They get caught up in the tactical motions, but the more successful prospecting comes from taking a more thoughtful approach.”
In this article, he outlines the five keys to increasing your effectiveness, including:
Connecting to the prospect’s why versus treating everyone the same
Knowing each prospect versus spamming a list
Understanding a prospect’s business versus wallowing in ignorance
Asking insightful questions versus pushing your agenda
Helping prospects think versus qualifying them through a process
2. A Gold Mine of Amazing Sales Videos
Becc Holland recently launched Flip the Script. I haven’t had a chance to take a deep dive through every video just yet, but she’s putting on an absolute clinic.
Just go check it out.
3. A Person Worth Following on LInkedIn
I only recently started following Gabrielle Blackwell, but she’s been crushing it on LinkedIn lately.
Authentic. Actionable. Awesome content.
In particular, loved her tips for excelling as an SDR:
📇 Find and maintain one's personal advisory board
🤗 Master the language of the target market
📸 Build one's brand internally
🙋🏽♀️ Share out learnings externally
Go follow her for more.
4. How to Really Hack Sales
Amy Volas brings down the house in this post.
The central idea is that success in sales is all about building real, long-term relationships. And then she shares five ways to do just that.
Learn everything about your prospect’s world
Make “deposits” by sharing useful content, making intros, etc.
Find a piece of information to connect with your prospect in a relevant, urgent and thoughtful way, or a “golden nugget”
Don’t do formulaic follow up. Continue to add value and find ways to meaningfully connect
Start a conversation on social
The post is packed with scripts and examples. Worth reading every word.
One Tactic to Try
Kevin “KD Dorsey suggests adding humour to your outreach to make it stand out.
How do you do that?
Google Persona/industry + memes, jokes, funny T-shirt, funny coffee mug, poster, etc. or Worst parts about being a "persona.”
The rationale? No one wants your branded stuff. But “bring even a small smile to their face and you are miles ahead.”
B2B doesn’t have to be so serious.
7 Freshly Picked Postings From the Past 7 Days
One Quote to Live By
“Discovery never stops.” - Josh Wagner
This was just a comment on LinkedIn, but it struck me as insightful and reminded me of the time I saw Cory Bray field questions after delivering a fire presentation at a sales event and he just kept answering everything with, “Better discovery.”
How do you accelerate pipeline velocity? Better discovery.
How do you prevent ghosting? Better discovery.
How do you close more effectively? Better discovery.
It was awesome.
Now you know,
Steele